Top 10 reasons for poor equipment management performance

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Top 10 reasons for poor equipment management: Despite many factories having implemented the concepts of \"lean management\" and \"TPM\" (Total Productive Maintenance) for a long time, the operating condition of their equipment has not improved; issues such as shortages of spare parts, frequent failures, and delayed repairs are common. Relevant investments have resulted in expenditures, yet the core problems persist; the root cause lies not in technical shortcomings, but in flaws in the management approach from the very beginning. 01 Lack of equipment records; information relies on individual memory. Equipment records are a fundamental aspect of equipment management, but some factories have not yet established a proper system for such records. Critical information such as responsibility for the equipment, part models, and overhaul times relies solely on the personal memory of the relevant personnel. Once key employees leave, the basic information related to the equipment becomes chaotic, and subsequent equipment management efforts lose their necessary basis, resulting in low work efficiency. 02 Emphasis on repairs rather than prevention; reactive emergency repairs have become the norm. Maintenance teams are constantly in a state of having to perform emergency repairs; new problems arise immediately after existing ones are resolved. Preventive inspections and routine maintenance are not given enough attention. Most failures show obvious signs in the early stages, but due to the lack of a regular inspection system, minor issues gradually develop into serious faults, causing the equipment’s operating condition to continue deteriorating. 03 The inspection process is a mere formality, and the records lack authenticity. Although the inspection forms are formatted properly and filled out completely, their contents are mostly copied and pasted; the data remains consistent from one entry to another, while the section for recording issues stays blank for long periods of time. Such inspection tasks have become mere procedures to meet inspection requirements, losing their actual function of identifying problems; they are essentially no different from not carrying out any inspections at all. 04 The maintenance records are incomplete, making it difficult to accumulate experience. After the equipment is repaired, only a note of “repaired” is made in the handover book, without detailed records of the replaced parts, the cause of the failure, or the repair methods used. If a similar fault occurs again, it is necessary to conduct further investigations, which prevents the sharing of experience and leads to the repeated occurrence of the same problems. 05 Disorganized spare parts management and unreasonable resource allocation. There are two extreme situations in spare parts management: one is an excess inventory of unused spare parts, which occupies capital without being put to use ； Secondly, there is a severe shortage of spare parts, causing the equipment to stop operating and wait. There are no clear guidelines regarding spare parts inventory levels and replenishment mechanisms, and chaotic management directly affects the proper operation of the equipment. 06 Gap in the maintenance team, with insufficient transfer of technical expertise – When experienced technicians retire, the knowledge they have accumulated is not effectively retained. New employees lack systematic training and can only learn through trial and error, making it difficult for them to resolve equipment issues quickly. The lack of knowledge transfer leads to a decline in technical skills and an increase in equipment failure rates. 07 Poor coordination between departments and frequent shifting of responsibility: After equipment failures occur, the production department and the maintenance department often blame each other; the production department feels that the maintenance response is slow, while the maintenance department believes that failures are not reported in a timely manner. Due to the lack of clear response procedures and coordination mechanisms, a significant amount of time is spent on determining responsibilities, which prolongs equipment downtime and affects overall production efficiency. 08 The performance evaluation criteria are singular; no attention is paid to equipment maintenance. The performance evaluations of production teams are directly linked to output levels—exceeding targets results in rewards, while downtime leads to penalties. As a result, employees are reluctant to shut down the equipment for repairs when minor faults occur, causing the equipment to operate with those faults, which ultimately leads to more serious problems. Although short-term production targets are maintained, this leads to greater losses in the long run, and no one takes responsibility for the long-term consequences. 09 Improvement proposals are not given due attention; the accumulation of problems creates risks. Frontline operators know the equipment’s faults best, yet the improvement suggestions they put forward are often ignored, with no feedback or follow-through. After repeated attempts to provide feedback yielded no results, employees gradually lost their enthusiasm for raising issues; small problems kept accumulating, eventually leading to serious accidents. It was only then that the importance of improvement proposals was realized. 10. There is insufficient attention from management, and the equipment management department lacks influence in corporate decision-making; the procurement and sales departments often hold dominance, while the reports submitted by the equipment management department are frequently ignored. Budgets related to equipment management are cut first and foremost, affecting staffing levels, spare parts costs, and maintenance schedules. Although management emphasizes the importance of equipment management after an accident occurs, it still does not receive sufficient attention in practice. The effectiveness of equipment management essentially depends on the level of attention given by management. Of these ten questions, which one are you most familiar with? There is never a lack of methods in the field of equipment management; what truly lacks is the attention and action needed to put equipment management efforts into practice.